


answer track

by deplore



Series: VRAINS - music AU [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 10:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13878864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deplore/pseuds/deplore
Summary: Music AU. Revolver throws shade at Playmaker on the Internet's biggest music site, and Playmaker makes a diss track in return.“Yusaku, have you looked at Pitchfork’s front page this morning,” Kusanagi says the moment that Yusaku picks up his phone, sounding almost out of breath with the urgency in his voice. “Because if you haven’t, don’t. Just… don’t.”“I’ve read it,” Yusaku replies evenly.“Did you… read that interview they did with Revolver?” Kusanagi asks.Yusaku sighs sharply. Since the moment that he woke up, he’d been bombarded left and right with mentions on social media, so he’d clicked the link that everybody kept bothering him about, found an interview with Revolver, read it from beginning to end, and discovered that he still had the emotional capacity in him to feel burning-hot anger so potent that he couldn’t finish his breakfast out of concern that he’d rage vomit the food right back up.“I read it,” he says, deceptively calm.“Okay,” Kusanagi replies, very slowly. “Okay. And how do you feel about it?”“I feel like I understand the legal need for a criminal defense by way of justifiable homicide,” Yusaku answers.





	answer track

 

> **Q: One last question, Revolver. It’s been noted that you’ve never interfered with any of PLAYMAKER’s sets. As a PLAYMAKER enthusiast myself, I have a bit of personal interest in asking this, but – are you, perhaps, a fan of his?**
> 
> _It’s more that I tend to feel that it wouldn’t be very interesting for me to do so. PLAYMAKER’s style is quite distinct from what you hear out of more mainstream DJs like Blue Angel or GO Onizuka. I think both of us draw inspiration from similar musicians, and it’s influenced our musical sensibilities in similar ways. So I think competing with PLAYMAKER doesn’t get the same impact and shock value, and that’s why I tend to not bother in the first place._

 

 

“Yusaku, have you looked at Pitchfork’s front page this morning,” Kusanagi says the moment that Yusaku picks up his phone, sounding almost out of breath with the urgency in his voice. “Because if you haven’t, don’t. Just… don’t.”

“I’ve read it,” Yusaku replies evenly.

“Did you… read that interview they did with Revolver?” Kusanagi asks.

Yusaku sighs sharply. Since the moment that he woke up, he’d been bombarded left and right with mentions on social media furiously – so in spite of the fact that Yusaku only logs onto any of those websites to post when he releases new music or to announce any appearances he’s making at a DJ, resolutely refusing to interact with anybody, not even he could ignore the fact that something was clearly amiss. So he’d clicked the link that everybody kept bothering him about, found an interview with Revolver, read it from beginning to end, and discovered that he still had the emotional capacity in him to feel burning-hot anger so potent that he couldn’t finish his breakfast out of concern that he’d rage vomit the food right back up.

“I read it,” he says, deceptively calm.

“Okay,” Kusanagi replies, very slowly. “Okay. And how do you feel about it?”

“I feel like I understand the legal need for a criminal defense by way of justifiable homicide,” Yusaku answers.

“Yusaku…” Kusanagi trails off in a way that Yusaku is pretty sure he means to invoke _disappointed older brother_ , but that tone has never worked on Yusaku before and it’s not about to start now.

“Listen,” Yusaku says, and then sighs again before continuing. “I’m not going to do anything stupid, alright? I just… want to be left alone for a while, that’s all.”

Kusanagi is silent for a few moments, but finally he replies, “Yusaku, I’ve known you for years. And I know that you’re saying that, but you’re actually going to do something reckless, so I’m not going to stop you. All I ask is that you _please_ tell me what you’re planning ahead of time.”

Yusaku stares hard at his laptop screen, which is still open to the interview. “I’m going to produce a new song,” he says. “It’s going to be… different.”

“Oh, thank god,” Kusanagi says, openly relieved. “I thought you were going to say you were planning murder.”

“That’s the back-up plan for if this song doesn’t come out well,” Yusaku replies grimly, and then hangs up before he gets lectured any further.

 

 

 

 

 

> **PLAYMAKER** @playmaker_ign006 ∙ 17 Jun 20XX
> 
> new original song will be out for free download tomorrow on itunes & google play store. track name is “RECODED ALIVE (not like this)”. trying something experimental. hope you will give it a chance and listen. #cyberserecords #recodedalive
> 
> ⤷ 103     ⇄ 1.5k     ♡ 6.9k

 

 

 

 

It’s an open secret to everybody who works with Revolver that he has all of Playmaker’s social media accounts on an RSS feed that directly pings notifications to him so that he can pay a disproportionately high amount of attention to everything that Playmaker does. Because of this, everybody who works with Revolver _also_ has all of Playmaker’s social media accounts on RSS feeds that directly ping notifications to them. Therefore, it’s only a matter of seconds before Playmaker’s tweet makes its rounds at the Hanoi Records office and everybody’s figured out that it is almost certainly in direct response to Revolver’s Pitchfork interview.

“Revolver,” Spectre says, “perhaps you should have just said you were a Playmaker fan.”

Grimly, Revolver clutches his smartphone as he stares at the replies pouring in on Playmaker’s tweet. “We don’t need to talk about this,” he replies. “Also, I’m not a Playmaker fan.”

They do not continue talking about it.

 

 

 

Yusaku keeps working through the night to put the last finishing touches on the single, making little adjustments here and there until he’s satisfied with his work. Before he goes to sleep, he puts the song through the final test that all of his singles go through: the annoying kid brother review.

Ai listens to it once, then again, which puts Yusaku a bit on edge – Ai only ever repeats songs that he either downright loves or outright hates. When he’s finally done, he takes Yusaku’s expensive headphones off with a strange expression, and is oddly silent for a few moments, which is incredibly unlike him. “So, what’d you think?” Yusaku asks, hoping to break the awkward quiet.

“You know, Yusaku,” Ai replies, “if I were a girl – no, I wouldn’t even go that far. If I weren’t your adopted sibling and I heard that song, then right now, I’d probably be like _ohhh take me, Playmaker, take me riiiight heeere –_ ”

“Oh my god, Ai,” Yusaku cuts in, mildly appalled. “Why do you have to be so disgustingly horny about _everything_ , just say it was good like a normal person.”

“It was good, Yusaku,” Ai says, uncharacteristically solemn. “I’d give it a 99.9% chance that your revenge song is going to be wildly successful at doing what it was made for.”

Within the next hour, the song drops.

 

 

 

 

> **GO Onizuka** @GOuki_onizuka ∙ 18 Jun 20XX
> 
> PLAYMAKER… you’re worthy of being my rival. #recodedalive
> 
> ⤷  39     ⇄ 103     ♡ 829

 

 

> **blue** **♧angel** @blueangel_trickstar ∙ 18 Jun 20XX
> 
> Good afternoon, everybody! Have you given a listen to #recodedalive yet? @playmaker_ign006, I had no idea you were hiding something like that from us all… I’ll have to step it up too ♡
> 
> ⤷ 81     ⇄ 342     ♡ 1.2k

 

 

> **the starlight’s guidance** @stardust_road ∙ 18 Jun 20XX
> 
> @playmaker_ign006 I’ve always told you that you have talent, but even I was taken off guard. You’re always evolving. I like that about you.
> 
> ⤷  1
> 
> **PLAYMAKER** @playmaker_ign006 ∙ 18 Jun 20XX  
>  Replying to @stardust_road
> 
> thanks.

 

 

 

> **PLAYMAKER – _RECODED ALIVE (not like this)_** _  
> _ By Emma Bessho / Electronic
> 
> The whirlwind indie sensation that first caught the music world’s attention by taking Den City’s club scene by storm as a DJ has done it yet again, expanding his musical resume with his fifth single. PLAYMAKER has been featuring guest singers ever since his second EP, Circuit Break, but RECODED ALIVE marks the first time that PLAYMAKER has used his own vocals in one of his songs – and what a voice he’s been hiding! Though clearly an amateur singer, the raw energy in his voice carries the lyrics with a mix of intensity and vulnerability. In a sense, his own lack of perfection as a singer is what truly brings the song from “great” to “unforgettable”: one has the sense that a more refined singer wouldn’t have been able to convey the emotional energy that the song channels.
> 
> The unexpected single is rumored to be a response to an interview with fellow DJ and musician Revolver that was posted four days ago on this very website, in which Revolver responded to a question about PLAYMAKER…

 

 

 

 

“Spectre,” Revolver says, with one earbud still in as he continues to listen to RECODED ALIVE on heavy rotation. “I’m so glad I didn’t say that I was a PLAYMAKER fan.”

“Good for you,” Spectre replies. And because he’s already accepted the fact that this is simply the screwed-up way that Revolver and Playmaker flirt with each other, and that they’ll probably never learn how to properly communicate, he simply leaves things at that.

 

 

 

 

 

> **PLAYMAKER Lyrics  
>  “RECODED ALIVE (not like this)”**
> 
> _we break each other in such intimate ways_  
>  _we kill each other with tender care_  
>  _because for you, i always come back_  
>  _RECODED ALIVE_
> 
> _we hurt each other to remember those days_  
>  _we carve out each others’ hearts to share_  
>  _because for me, you always come back_  
>  _RECODED ALIVE_
> 
> _but not like this, not like this_  
>  _a little bit more like that instead_  
>  _let’s not be like this tonight_
> 
> _but not like this, not like this_  
>  _we didn’t have to be like this_  
>  _RECODED ALIVE  
>  _

**Author's Note:**

> Random tidbits:
> 
>   * Yusaku is basically 2014 era Martin Garrix, right down to the part where he names all his songs stuff like [Virus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXIDtf1wP0g), Keygen, Proxy, etc. 
>   * I couldn't come up with a bland name replacement for Pitchfork (the music website), so it's still Pitchfork lol. My high school days were truly impacted by that website and like 75% of my opinions on music were just copy/pasted from it..... now I simply accept the fact that I have no taste. 
>   * Website formats that I tried my best to mimic: Twitter, Pitchfork (Ema's article), AZ Lyrics. AO3 absolutely hated my formatting for the tweets and kept cutting the fic in half because of it so I had to try posting this like 4 times.... 
>   * If it wasn't obvious, @stardust_road is Revolver's secret Twitter account that he's been using to send nice messages to Yusaku ever since his early musical ventures (account name matches his Soundcloud account too lol). It is also the only account Playmaker is following (and sometimes replies to). 
>   * It's Yusaku's fifth single because there are 5 booster pack series announced for VRAINS thus far. The second one was Circuit Break. but i don't really know that much about the TCG sorry if i'm wrong
>   * I didn't mean to come back to this AU, but I'm still in an EDM phase and I don't know when it's going to end... I tried writing something serious but it's taking me ages, whereas this just kinda [waves hands] happens... 
>   * (revolver voice) that's playmaker. that's the puppet master who cursed my dick
> 



End file.
